About
William H. DeWick was born on December 15th, 1869 in Port Jefferson, New York to George and Aimee DeWick. His early life is unclear but being raised by a sailor must've imposed a level of discipline on William. Around 1896 he was working as a manager for George Clifton Dobson, son of the famed banjo manufacturer, in Brooklyn.
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| 1896 Advertisement Image Credit: Google Books |
By 1900, he had married his wife Ruth and was working as a music teacher [1]. In 1910, he was a listed in the census as a manufacturer of musical instruments and a year later appeared in the Directory of Music Industries under both 'banjo' and 'guitars and mandolins'. His address was listed as 6 Halsey Street [2][3].
In 1922, William patented a banjo with a back cover and "sounding board" as well as a neck attachment mechanism for the same instrument.
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| Patent 1681148 Image Credit: Google Patents |
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| Patent 1567359 Image Credit: Google Patents |
He continued to work as an instrument maker through the 1930s and by the 1940 census had taken on a new occupation as a house painter [4][5]. Perhaps it was a change of pace
Sources
[1] 1900 census - https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4114534_00349?pId=48572985
[2] 1910 census - https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449833_01024?pId=17709524
[3] Directory of Music Industries - https://www.google.com/books/edition/Directory_of_Music_Industries/hMkwAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=dewick%20
[4] 1930 census - https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4661128_00846?pId=122745017
[5] 1940 census - https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-02686-00367?pId=6633697
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